Distinguished hosts and guests, ladies and gentlemen, I am delighted to be addressing such an eminent gathering of protected area professionals, conservation experts and decision makers. Thank you for... Show More + this opportunity to connect with old and new partners to strengthen and move forward the protected area agenda at a crucial juncture for parks, people and the planet.Some of you may remember me in previous incarnations, managing projects on biodiversity, land degradation and territorial approaches to climate change for UNDP, or pushing for the Sustainable Development Goals initiative from within the Colombian government. I moved to the World Bank in July with the same drive and passion because I now want to focus on implementation. As head of the new Environment and Natural Resources Global Practice at the World Bank, I see great opportunities to carry the conservation agenda forward by managing natural resources within the broader paradigm of poverty reduction and long-term sustainable, Show Less -

MANILA, MAY 28, 2014 – The World Bank has approved a $700,615 technical assistance grant that will provide data on the current state of the Philippines’ natural resources. Called Wealth Accounting and... Show More + Valuation of Ecosystems (Phil-WAVES), the project will also promote the integration of principles of sustainable development into country policies and programs.Ensuring sustainable use of natural resources could improve the lives of the poor as they are usually highly dependent on natural resources for their livelihood.In 2013, agriculture, forestry and fisheries accounted for 11.2 percent of the Philippines’ Gross Domestic Product (GDP) and a third of total employment. However, data from the Philippine Statistics Authority (PSA) shows that the poverty incidence in these sectors is high, reaching 36.7 percent in 2009. Sustainable management and judicious use of natural resources are thus critical to ensure that growth is pro-poor and inclusive.Phil-WAVES will use the 2012 System of Enviro Show Less -

Natural Capital Accounting Taking Hold Across the GlobeIn the Philippines, one of WAVES’ eight core implementing countries, NCA is taking hold. “Governments and the private sector are being challenged... Show More + to incorporate NCA into development planning,” said Emmanuel F. Esguerra, Deputy Director General of the Philippines National Economic and Development Authority. “Now we have the resources to build capacity.” Esguerra said important lessons that have come out of NCA are the need for strong government ownership, the early involvement of stakeholders and strong collaboration with experts and partners. He said the path to making NCA the "new normal" would not be a straight line because the challenges are different in every country.Many other country examples were presented to a packed auditorium on the opening day of the partnership meeting. For example:In Guatemala, the forest account showed that the country’s deforestation rate was the highest i Show Less -

Cities have always been the engines of economic growth; now they hold the key to a sustainable future. Cities today have a unique opportunity to become global engines of green growth by choosing energy-efficient... Show More + solutions for their infrastructure needs.The urban arena is where development challenges and solutions meet. 6.2 billion people—or two-thirds of the world’s population—will be living in cities by 2050. Unfortunately, most of this urban growth will take place in developing countries, where the vast majority of people remain unserved by basic infrastructure services and where they are least able to cope with the uncertainty of climate impacts. Right now in developing countries nearly one billion people are living in slums.Today, cities account for roughly two-thirds of the world’s overall energy consumption and about 70 percent of global greenhouse gas emissions. This past summer, the concentration of carbon dioxide in the atmosphere passed levels not seen in three million years. Show Less -

MANILA, JUNE 25, 2013 – A new study says deepening reforms to fully integrate the climate change agenda in the government’s planning and budgeting will strengthen the Philippines’ resilience against the... Show More + impacts of a warming world and make communities less vulnerable to sea level rise, degradation of marine ecosystems, and extreme weather events.The report entitled Getting a Grip on Climate Change in the Philippines looks at the innovations as well as gaps in policy and financing of climate change programs since the country adopted the Climate Change Act four years ago.The report – done at the request of, and in close collaboration with the Climate Change Commission (CCC) and the Department of Budget and Management (DBM) – provides detailed analysis and recommendations on how the country could accelerate reforms for managing the growing climate change impacts and increasing greenhouse gas emissions while contributing to poverty reduction.“Policy makers have put in place comprehensive se Show Less -

Private sector has a roleAt the meeting, ministers and policy makers discussed ways to mainstream natural capital accounting, including: working across ministries to ensure full government support; bringing... Show More + in the public and private sectors; and supporting and exchanging information and challenges with each other through regional and annual gatherings.The private sector is a key component of this work. The International Finance Corporation (IFC), part of the World Bank Group, is launching a natural capital program to create new methodologies and tools in collaboration with private companies. These will allow the private sector to measure, manage, report, and potentially value natural capital."Sound natural capital management goes hand in hand with benefits for companies, communities, and the environment,” said Usha Rao-Monari, director of Sustainable Business Advisory at the IFC. “Companies that take natural capital into account can save on resource use, access markets and financi Show Less -

SEEA: First StepsThe idea of measuring the economic value of clean air, clean water, forests and other ecosystems has been around since the Earth Summit in Rio in 1992. However, it did not gain traction... Show More + because of lack of widely agreed methods for putting monetary values to these services. A major step forward has been the recent adoption by the UN Statistical Commission of the System for Environmental and Economic Accounts (SEEA) of an internationally-agreed method to account for material natural resources like minerals, timber, and fisheries.The implementation of the SEEA was the subject of intense discussion last week among representatives from several countries, NGOs, think tanks, academic and international organizations at the second meeting of Wealth Accounting and the Valuation of Ecosystem Services (WAVES). The global partnership, which World Bank President Robert B. Zoellick announced in Nagoya, Japan, in 2010, has been supporting a number of countries as they prepare to imple Show Less -